We’re not just the first generation to elect a black president—some say we’re also the first generation in which gay teenagers feel safe coming out to their parents and classmates. In Sunday’s New York Times Magazine cover story, writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis chronicled how adolescents are so much more confident telling their friends, families and parents that they’re gay at younger ages than ever before. Just how young? The author spent time with middle schoolers across the country who’ve come out of the closet at 13, 12, and even 11 years old.

Back in the day, at a dance party in my middle school’s gym, a ray of light shined into my dark pubescent heart: the class clown asked me to slow dance. It was an unexpected surprise, as I usually went to school socials just so I could eat lots of M&M’s and Doritos. But a mouthful of Brian was even better than junk food.  We goofed around, got in trouble with the teachers for dancing too close, and made out in an empty girls’ bathroom. It was one H-O-T Friday night!  When Monday rolled around, I had my friend French braid my hair in PE, I put on some lip gloss, and then I bravely went up to my new boyfriend during lunch. But he pretended he didn’t know why I was even talking to him and made fun of me in front of his friends. WTF?! I was crushed. It’s easy to blame that kind of manipulation on adolescent immaturity. But now we have quite a woman to console—Cameron Diaz. 

In the past two weeks alone, three female teachers in Tampa, FL, have been arrested for having sex with their students—sadly proving even women can be totally perverted pedophiles. The first bust was a 28-year-old middle school math teacher, Stephanie Regusa, who added a 14-year-old boy, divided his legs, then got herself subtracted from society when police arrested her after they monitored her phone calls to him.  Then, the authorities caught 45-year-old Mary Jo Spack, a high school honors English teacher who bought booze to lure a bunch of students to a private motel room where she was overheard raping a boy in the shower. Finally, a third substitute teacher and married mother of two, Lisa Marinelli, was arrested for having sex with a high schooler. While Marinelli bears a coincidental resemblance to crazy cougar Paula Abdul, weirder still, Tampa was also the city where Debra Lafave (pictured), the beautiful blond teacher that was caught having a relationship with her student, made headlines in 2004. So the score so far is pedophilic female teachers 4, Tampa 0. If you have a son, stay the hell away from the Sunshine State! [KNBC]